What I think it means to be a modern-day civil servant in Malawi

On January 24, 2017, Goodall Gondwe, Malawi’s Minister of Finance, posed a question that pressed a happy button in me when he entreated every civil servant to ask themselves whether their presence in the civil service does add any value, and if not, to do justice to themselves, accepting they are not worth the sanctity that is working in the public sector. He said, like did Late Chinua Achebe, that those serving in the civil service should consider it a calling, a sort of commitment that requires a form of dedication not available anywhere else. Of course, I did not share the other part of his sentiments when he said those who want more money should consider leaving the public sector altogether. I found this last bit rather misplaced because the whole concept of managing by results also called performance management or quality-based management, et cetera is that those implementing various projects in the civil service should produce first rate results, to make the public sector tick as much as the private sector so those managers and all those serving under them, I mean all those behind such results or innovation are rewarded for the job well done.

There are, thus, two sides to performance-based or results-based management—giving those in the public sector incentives, amidst a robust reporting mechanism, to meet set targets; and rewarding them if they meet the targets or even rewarding them doubly if they produce results par excellence. This also means punishing them if they fail to meet those targets unless the reason is not of their own making. The importance of the component ‘robust reporting mechanism’ is to prevent those managers entrusted with these projects from running away with it, for without enabling oversight officials to monitor arms-length, diversion and abuse of power can go undetected, and arresting the situation can be too late. For me, what Gondwe said is précis of everything public sector reform and innovation. In short, the concept of public sector reforms means ‘work to your best, work with the principles of a public officer, and if you think you cannot, excuse yourself out of the civil service’.

Goodall attracted a lot of negative comments for telling the people this truth, and I know why—they think working in the civil service means money and employment first. It, in fact, means serve to the best of your ability so you should be justified to claim for that which is due you. The principle is, if you have nothing to show for what you do in the civil service, you have no room there at all, and so have no reason asking Government to raise your salary; we must deserve these things. Our refusal to abide by rules, to deserve what we get is what is breeding corruption in this country, because people want to earn where they did not work, to harvest where they did not sow. The definition of corruption is misuse of public authority for private gain. If Government entrusts you with serving it (and therefore indirectly serving the people or public interest) with all dedication and faithfulness and you abuse this trust, you are, in a way, abusing that public authority (that power the Government entrusted in your hands on behalf of the people) for your own gain, i.e. to please your (own personal) wishes or objectives. If you view corruption from this broad perspective, no one will ever fault you, and surely, even GOD HIMSELF will find some great room and favour for you right there in the civil service.

My life has always benefited from working with people of unparalleled dedication to duty. When I was a secondary school teacher, I worked under the headship of Mrs Deliah Thawe. Everywhere she has been too, she has been labelled a difficult person. I confess that if I hadn’t worked under such great personalities, I would be a man half-prepared for the civil service. Mrs Thawe wanted everyone to stick to rules, to be in class at the time the time-table said you should be there. She wanted you to be personally responsible, to take care of Government and mission assets as though they were yours personally. Mrs Thawe would work with the students, literally taking part in planting flowers with the kids, leading by example. To many, the whole Headteacher doing this was cheap publicity stunt. The people hated this approach to work, but I always thank GOD I once worked under Mrs Thawe, and GOD should remember such people for us.

And at the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, I worked with many people but Samson Nkhono, Joe Mlenga and Late Davis Mussa left such a mark on me; I always value the power of perfection and sober judgment before issues, all thanks to these great men.

And where I work now, I found a great hard-working and honest woman, Mrs Linda Saka. Mrs Linda Saka was lucky to work with the white men and women who coordinated Chancellor College Publications way before my arrival, and these people laid a powerful yardstick for working in that office. Mrs Saka always made sure every transaction was recorded and was kept where we would all get it when needed. She stuck to time, and above all, she never accepted that anything on design elude her. We would be designing a document (book or journal), and I would get stuck, but she would come in and tell me, “It will work.” She would struggle but later I would see her coming back, her face glowing in smile, it’s done. My office went unlucky when the Office of the University of Malawi itself noticed her greatness and stole her from my office, giving her a better post and better wages. Today she deservedly works as Assistant Registrar for the same College where I work, Chancellor College of the University of Malawi.

Let me also confess that the white people who coordinated my office then had left a habit that taught even the messengers the power of honesty. When I arrived there in 2004, one messenger told me: “You know our former boss (the white man) would never take a vehicle for personal errand. If he did, he would record everything and pay for it.” It was the same for telephones, he made sure everyone including he recorded the time and minutes they were there so they would pay for the same in the end.

I always say that the best way to fight corruption isn’t relying on the courts, et cetera; it is by encouraging leaders to live by example. To encourage them the power of showing everyone what they receive, how they receive it; to allow the people to see what they do as far as government business is done and how they do it; to allow the people to see what they have, how they acquired the same, et cetera. It cannot work overnight, but if we can achieve part of it, people might begin to take notice. The greatest form of change comes when a person makes a decision to be part of that forward movement for change.

Chinua Achebe said becoming a leader is a calling and an opportunity to contribute to those in need:

“When I have talked about the need for a servant leader, I have emphasized an individual that is well prepared—educationally, morally and otherwise – who wants to serve (in the deepest definition of the word); someone who sees the ascendancy to leadership as an anointment by the people and holds the work to be highly important, if not sacred. I know that is asking for a lot, but that really should be our goal. If we aim for that, what we get may not be so bad after all” Chinua Achebe quoted in Scott Baldauf’s “Chinua Achebe on Corruption and Hope in Nigeria” dated March 22, 2013, available at www.scmonitor.com)

A leader is not only that person who inspires others; it is also that person whose decisions will likely affect others. In other words, if your decision will affect someone, you assume a leadership role upon that one because his or her destiny will change either positively or negatively as a result of that decision. In my understanding, if a messenger works in some office in the public office, he or she assumes some leadership role because he or she becomes part of those entrusted with change. If he or she steals something, say a machine, there, suppose it’s a hospital, that act or decision will have some telling repercussions upon lives of thousands poor villagers whose plight would have been different if that machine was around.

In the same way, if a messenger in a public office accepts to use his or her bank account to transfer money illegally obtained, he or she becomes part of the leadership preying upon innocent men and women who entrusted them with their lives.

Corruption does not only occur among the rich, even messengers, secretaries, clerks, nurses, chiefs, et cetera can indulge in corruption. Many times people think that corruption at this lower level—quiet corruption—is not as dangerous. This is where we miss it. Corruption at every level, especially in the health sector, is as dangerous. If five thousand nurses or pharmacists, each steals a tin of drugs every day, how much does the Government (and therefore the people) lose in a that single day? If they do this every time they are on duty, how much damage do they inflict on the innocent, vulnerable ignorant poor out there, and what would it all amount to in a year?

Goodall said serving in the public sector is a calling. He wasn’t really far from the truth, because it is GOD, taking into account how you respond to opportunities HE gives you, who decides where you should be. In this way, GOD entrusts you with this job, kind of calling you to the same, as illustrates the parable of the good steward in Matthew 25: 14 – 30.

In the parable, a man going on a long trip gave five bags of silver to one servant, to another two bags of silver, and to a third one, one bag. He used an interesting criterion in dividing the silver bags—their abilities. If it were today and this was the civil service, I would say, he looked at their qualifications and how much each would contribute to the civil service. I would, for example, say, one given five bags has MA, one with two bags, BA, and the last one, MSCE certificate. The first two used innovation and entrepreneurship, and made profit. The last one, acting on fear and lack of prudence, thought the best way was to bury it, waiting for the man’s arrival so he should unbury it and give it back as he had gotten it. And you know what happened later—the sole bag he had had was taken away from him and given to that highest profit-maker, the one with ten. And what impresses me most is what verse 29 says: “To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.”

Serving in the civil service proffers you an opportunity to exercise your appreciation through prudence and hard-work. If you do not work as though you are sent by GOD to do it, then you are an accident waiting to happen. Sometimes people should not get surprised when they register no progress in life—they refuse to serve with dedication in the roles given them by Government, and Government is a representative of GOD on earth.

Goodall was so brave to say these things, but people who don’t believe in hard-work, people who think good comes out of nothing, fruits out of laziness thought the man was taking it too far. Such people ought to be told the truth at times, and truth pains sometimes. There is almost no dedication to calling among most civil servants. I have seen people who do things half-measure yet receiving full salary. If that is not theft, if that is not corruption, then tell me what theft or corruption is.

If the civil service we have today were made up of those great men and women who saw Malawi move from colonialism to Independence back then, it would be a different story. John Tembo is known for his exploits in the political world under the Malawi Congress Party but I have heard stories of him working with that efficiency of a military unit, and even Goodall Gondwe himself does testify to this. We need people who, individually, should set target for their service in government, people who should work as though they are being supervised by GOD HIMSELF.

At the end of every year, as we enter the New Year, people make what they call New Year Resolutions. I wonder how many of them take time to ask GOD to give them the strength to help build their nation as civil servants. Most such requests to GOD are merely selfishness disguised as praise. A person is a totality of everything that surrounds him or her—other people, the environment (trees, water, et cetera), and our duty is to reconcile with ourselves first, then with these forces. Anything less than that, we are cheating ourselves, and truth should be told; we can never build a nation from such tools of straw.

For whatever reason, Malawians today are used to soft treatment, and they go on the defensive every time someone reminds them they have a role to make Malawi tick again. They are in the forefront accusing Government of failing them when their contribution to that Government is minimal and nobody would miss them even if they left the civil service. A person should turn himself or herself into a brand of hard-work and humility so his or her absence can be felt. People cannot be open to you to tell you how much they can miss you, but you must make them feel deep inside them that you make a difference and that without you, everybody would tell something is missing.

In the same vein, when we talk of going to the streets, we must ask ourselves whether there is honesty in us. I am not in the habit of criticizing Government just for the sake of it. I can only criticize the Government upon three conditions: whether I am better than them in that front; whether my criticism is not coming out of malice or attempt to make myself a name the cheap way; and whether my criticism has taken into account all factors—whether the Government is receiving enough external support, whether every fault is of Government’s own making or by some act of nature, whether it is realistic to demand such an action within the period the Government has served. I am not saying we must never criticize the Government; it is our job to, and the Government must give an ear to it when we do, but we must exercise some caution as we criticize, and our criticism should carry with it a large amount of alternative presented in a manner friendly and mild.

I love my Government so much, and this is because GOD tells me to, and whenever I see it going astray I voice my concern. Similarly, when it does well, I equally express my pride. However, as I do this, I always remember I am an artist, and artists always side with the people or those who side with the people. To quote Achebe, “An artist in my understanding of the word, should side with the people against the Emperor that oppresses his or her people.”

I should mention one area where I think Government deserves some credit. Lately, our Government has led the nation in a massive tree-planting exercise. I have never seen in my life such a rally for replenishing green in our nation. In the next five years this land will regain its beauty again. This is a great legacy, and I wish our leaders would emphasise such things, things that build a nation, things everyone needs.

I think I detoured.

Well, today we have people working in the civil service who do not value the power of waiting, perseverance and innovation or entrepreneurship. People build houses using stolen money and resources. I just wonder how such people fight their conscience sleeping in a house built from stolen money. In essence those houses are not theirs, perhaps this explains why things acquired through folly never last and perhaps why such people never know the power of happiness.

These are the very people who love chaos. A nation in crisis has no room to flood to the streets, but to sit down and talk and collectively find answers. I am reluctant to take part in demonstrations and strike—you abandon your work, leaving it piling while causing collateral damage to the poor in the course, only to return to find the situation worse. Like in war, there is never a winner in demonstrations and strikes. The answer lies not in walking in the streets as though you have nothing to do; the answer lies in talking. I am not saying people should not take to the streets; they must, as a last, last resort. But they should know that one danger with demonstrations is that people take to the streets with an accumulation of frustrations, and so you find a man who has been frustrated (or who has frustrated himself) for twenty years trying hard to release all the anger in one hour. The result is that such a person ceases to use his brain and instead, uses his hands and legs, and the result is chaos and damage of untold character. The second problem comes when replacing damaged property and in worse cases, dealing with situations after bloodshed.

To quote Achebe again, “Popular non-violent uprisings as an expression of the feelings of the people should be allowed and protected. . . The problem with leaderless uprisings taking over is that you don’t always know what you get at the other end. If you are not careful, you could replace a bad government with one much worse!”

Achebe is talking of non-violent protests, but how many protests go on without some violence? This is why he warns us to exercise caution when talking about taking to the streets because we might end up replacing one regime with a much worse one.

I personally believe that a person who does not work hard at his or her workplace has no right to ask Government to raise his or her pay. We must demonstrate we do the best of our ability first so our demand for better wages is justified. How do you demand better wages when you are in office only three hours and only two days in a week? Isn’t that daylight robbery or corruption?

For a long time, I have wondered what it is that has kept Oliver Mtukudzi going as far as dishing out the best in the music circle is concerned. Many people I asked on this tended to say the man puts out good music and that is the reason he has made it great. But you know that this offers no explanation. Lately, fortunately, I came across some of his old songs, and one song in that collection gave me the answer—‘Mean what you say’. This song says something like whenever I’m singing, I mean what I sing and I sing it loud. Put simply, Mtukudzi says he puts everything in him in his music; he leaves nothing to chance; he works to the best of his ability.

Mtukudzi seems to suggest that success is not just a matter of chance; we must work on or for it with everything in us. Above that, success does take time. I know Mtukudzi from the early 1980s when I was a young man and when he visited Zomba at the Community Centre with dancing women donning black. He has travelled long and his success has a journey you can trace. Most musicians today want everything work today, no working on it, no effort. So to ensure their songs enjoy airplay they connive with DJs in a form of ‘quiet’ corruption. Shame.

Civil servants must understand that there is always a reward for those who work with an extra heart in the civil service. Even those serving in the lower level of the rung have an opportunity to make it great if they dedicate themselves and work on improving on their lives. After all, didn’t Ovid teach us that “dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.”? On the same, Lucretius says, “The drops of rain make a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling.”

However, Government has a role to negotiate with the civil servants to guide them on how best they can utilize their potentials. The Government can try introducing some incentives for those neglected sectors, e.g. education. If a teacher would be assured of a monthly subsidized bag of maize and beans, I bet things would not be the same in the teaching profession. I would say the same of the traffic controlling officer on the road or all police officers. I know the question will be to whom we can look for such provision. Well, the Government has some sectors, for example, the police themselves, which can produce enough to keep this nation going, making money for themselves in the course. Why our police service does not do such good business when they have a health pool of human resource is beyond me. The army and the police could have huge farms, feeding themselves and the other sectors, and Government could use such resources to subsidise in other sectors, in the course, bringing pride to these great services.

Great ideas are stupid in appearance. Imagine the person who first thought that some day a vehicle as huge as a ship would fly in the sky, carrying people and cargo. How stupid and naïve did that idea appear then? I am an Intellectual Property expert; our belief is that the mind is the greatest asset GOD gave humans, perhaps it explains why 20% to 25% of the oxygen the body takes in is used by the brain alone.

Let us bring thinking and innovation in the civil service; let us bring the culture of hard-work, entrepreneurship and principles of public office in our civil service so we shall not lack in anything. And above all, let us demonstrate hard-work first before we begin to demand.

Please, gates are open for your arrows now. But I say, Goodall, please, say it again.

Reference

Scott Baldauf’s “Chinua Achebe on Corruption and Hope in Nigeria” dated March 22, 2013, available at www.scmonitor.com)